Junk removal costs in Montgomery

From New Year's Day through April 15, Montgomery lets you rake leaves into a loose pile behind the curb, kept apart from other trash. The rest of the year, leaves have to be bagged or containerized, and grass and pine straw always do. Use containers or bags of 30 gallons, tied at the top. Limbs and hedges can go out cut under 4 feet long and 8 inches across.

Everything else at the curb needs a bulk pickup first. Call 311 to schedule it, and the city comes on the designated day. It charges by the truckload, or by the piece for a stove, fridge, freezer, sofa or water heater. Only households with current city Sanitation Department service can book. Building debris, like scrap lumber, plaster, roofing and concrete from a remodel or demolition, falls to the owner, contractor or tenant. Roll your cart out by 7 a.m. on pickup day and back in by 7 p.m.

Montgomery County also runs Clean-Up Days with Martin Environmental Services, on a Saturday in most months, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sites include Mount Meigs, Pike Road, Pine Level, Ramer and Flatwood. They're for county residents only, with no contractors. You load your things straight onto the truck, so bring help for anything heavy. No appliances, tires, batteries, paint or oil.

Leave the big rig at home for those Saturdays. The county turns away vehicles rated over three-quarter ton, dump bodies, stake-side bodies and dual-axle trailers.